Testimony in rape trial set to begin Pleasant Point man faces sex assault charge in New Year’s incident

MACHIAS – The jury trial of a 35-year-old Pleasant Point man accused of raping a 20-year-old woman on New Year’s Day is expected to begin today.

Richard Bassett was in Washington County Superior Court on Monday when eight men and six women, two of them alternates, were selected as jurors.

This is Bassett’s third charge of gross sexual assault in the past 15 years.

According to an affidavit on file, the woman attended a New Year’s Eve party at her boyfriend’s apartment and awoke early the next morning to find Bassett on top of her.

The woman told the Pleasant Point police that Bassett pulled off her pants and began kissing her, but she was able to push him off and run to another room. Bassett allegedly followed her, pushed her down on a bed and sexually assaulted her, according to the affidavit. He then ran from the house. He was arrested Jan. 2.

Bassett was charged with gross sexual assault. His bail was set at $250,000 single surety or $50,000 cash.

The Pleasant Point man’s history of crime in Washington County began in 1987 when he was sentenced to 364 days in jail, with all but 60 days suspended, for attempted gross sexual assault.

Between 1987 and 1990, Bassett’s parole was revoked twice, for possession of a firearm by a felon and for being an accomplice to unlawful trafficking in drugs. In 1988, he was convicted of theft and assault.

In 1989, when he was 23, Bassett and his brother, who was a juvenile at the time, attacked a 20-year-old college student as she worked on the second floor of the Passamaquoddy Tribe’s vocational education building at Pleasant Point.

Bassett and his brother broke into the building and sexually assaulted the woman in the office, where she worked, then ran to Bassett’s mother’s house. The brother was convicted of juvenile offenses relating to the attack and sentenced to the Maine Youth Center.

When police attempted to arrest him in the vocational education attack, Bassett pulled a large knife and forced police to leave the home. After a six-hour standoff, he was arrested. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison with all but eight years suspended.

The trial is expected to begin at 9 a.m. today. Assistant District Attorney Paul Cavanaugh and Bassett’s attorney, Jeffrey Toothaker of Ellsworth, are expected to make their opening arguments this morning.